At least, that's the way things used to be back in Photoshop CS5 and earlier.Īuto Save allows Photoshop to save a backup copy of our work at regular intervals so that if Photoshop does happen to crash, we can recover the file and continue from where we left off! When that happens, we often end up losing all the work we've done on our image, forcing us to start over again from scratch. Even though Photoshop has evolved into a very mature and stable program, there's always the chance that something will go wrong and Photoshop will crash. Auto SaveĪ second and even more impressive new feature in Photoshop CS6 is Auto Save. We can even work on a different image while the first one is being saved. With Background Save, we can keep working while Photoshop is saving the file. The Background Save feature will even let us switch to a completely different image to work on while the original image is being saved, something that was not possible in Photoshop CS5 and earlier: We can continue working on the image even while it's been saved!Īs an example, here we can see that I've started working on a black and white conversion of my image (by adding a Black and White adjustment layer) even though the progress indicators at the top and bottom of the document window are telling me that the save process is still only 51% completed. What does that mean? It means that our workflow will no longer be interrupted when we go to save a large file because we won't be locked out of Photoshop.

While these progress indicators are a nice new addition to the interface, the real power of the Background Save feature in Photoshop CS6 is that, as its name implies, the saving process now takes place entirely in the background. The save process is displayed as a percentage and as a progress bar in the bottom left of the document window. Here's an image that I currently have open in CS6: Thanks to the new Background Save feature in Photoshop CS6, that's no longer the case. With Photoshop CS5 and earlier, saving a large file often meant taking a break, whether you wanted to or not, because Photoshop would essentially freeze as the file was being saved, locking you out of the program and preventing you from doing anything more until the saving process was completed. You probably also know that the bigger the file size becomes, the longer it takes Photoshop to save your work. If you've been using Photoshop for a while, you know that as we add more and more layers to a document, we increase the file size. The second and more important new feature is Auto Save, which lets Photoshop CS6 save a backup copy of your work at regular intervals so that if Photoshop happens to crash while you're working on an image, rather than losing everything you've done and starting over, you can recover the file and continue working from where you left off! In this tutorial, we'll learn how both of these new features work.ĭownload this tutorial as a print-ready PDF! Background Save Photoshop CS6 brings with it two great new features designed to improve your workflow and minimize annoying interruptions.The first of these new features, Background Save, lets Photoshop save your file quietly in the background so you can continue working on the image even as it's being saved.

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